Showing papers in "Child Development in 1974"

Developmental Research, Public Policy, and the Ecology of Childhood

Abstract: ence and social policy, the first axiom, at least among social scientists, is that social policy should be based on science. The proposition not only has logic on its side, but, what is more important, it recognizes our proper and primary importance in the scheme of things. The policymakers should look to us, not only for truth, but, we must modestly confess, for wisdom as well. In short, social policy needs science.

The postnatal growth of visual capacity

Abstract: BRONSON, GOnDON. The Postnatal Growth of Visual Capacity. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 873-890. Behavioral studies of early visual development are interpreted within a framework provided by data from the neurosciences. It is concluded that the visual responses elicited during the first month of life are mediated directly by components of a phylogenetically older "second visual system," and that the more sophisticated reactions that typically begin to appear during the second and third months reflect a dawning participation of the primary visual system in the processing of visual input. The process of postnatal visual development is viewed as a progressive encoding, within different components of the visual network, of increasingly more complex aspects of the information contained in the visual signal.

What's in a name? A study of how children learn common and proper names.

Abstract: KATZ, NANCY; BAKER, ERICA; and MACNAMARA, JOHN. What's in a Name? A Study of How Children Learn Common and Proper Names. CHmLD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 469-473. This paper studies the processes whereby small children (17-24 mo.) learn common and proper nouns and learn how English distinguishes between them. Our thesis is that within certain classes of objects (e.g., people), the children first discriminate individuals and then learn their names, whereas among other classes of objects (e.g., spoons) they do not discriminate individuals, and learn names only for the class. These two processes enable the children to learn the syntactic distinction between common and proper nouns. The thesis is supported by two sets of experimental data derived from a total of 80 children.

The early development of inferences about the visual percepts of others.

Abstract: MASANGKAY, ZENAIDA S.; McCLUSKEY, KATHLEEN A.; MCINTYRE, CURTIS W.; SIMS-KNIGHT, JUDITH; VAUGHN, BRIAN E.; and FLAVELL, JOHN H. The Early Development of Inferences about the Visual Percepts of Others. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 357-366. 3 experiments assessed the ability of 2-5-year-old children to infer, under very simple task conditions, what another person sees when viewing something from a position other than the children's own. Some ability of this genre appears to exist by 2-3 years of age, at least. The data suggest a distinction between an earlier (Level 1) and a later (Level 2) developmental form of visual percept inference. At Level 1, S is capable of nonegocentrically inferring that O sees an object presently nonvisible to S himself. At Level 2, S is also capable of nonegocentrically inferring how an object that both currently see appears to O, that is, how it looks from his particular spatial perspective.

A structural-developmental analysis of levels of role taking in middle childhood.

Abstract: SELMAN, ROBERT L., and BYRNE, DIANE F. A Structural-Developmental Analysis of Levels of Role Taking in Middle Childhood. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 803-806. 40 childrenages 4, 6, 8, and 10-were interviewed by standard and Piagetian clinical method on 2 sociomoral dilemmas. Each child's discussion of the perspectives of different characters in the dilemma was analyzed according to a previously defined sequence of role-taking levels. The high correlation of these levels with increasing age indicates that role taking as a concept is amenable to a structural-developmental analysis.

Synchrony demonstrated between movements of the neonate and adult speech.

Abstract: CONDON, WILLIAM S., and SANDER, Lours W. Synchrony Demonstrated between Movements of the Neonate and Adult Speech. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 456-462. The human neonate moves in precise and sustained synchronous organizations of change of movement with the articulated structure of adult speech as early as the first day of life. This complex and on-going "dance" of the neonate with human speech may necessitate conceptual revisions concerning the nature and functions of neonatal responsivity. In addition, present models of interaction may be found to be inadequate to account for entrainment and synchrony of this order. The present observations suggest a view of development in terms of the participation of the infant at the outset in multiple forms of interactional organization, rather than as an isolate.

Cognitive maps in children and men.

Abstract: KOSSLYN, STEPHEN M.; PICK, HERBERT L., JR.; and FARIELLO, GRIFFIN R. Cognitive Maps in Children and Men. CmLD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 707-716. This experiment examined factors which systematically distort children's and adults' memory for spatial relations. Children and adults learned where a set of objects belonged in an experimental space. The space was divided into quadrants by 2 transparent and 2 opaque barriers. After learning where the objects belonged, Ss ranked from memory the distances between all pairs of objects. Cognitive maps then were reconstructed by applying multidimensional scaling techniques to these data. Children perceived objects separated by both types of barriers as farther apart than objects separated by the same distance with no barrier. Adults' perception, in contrast, seemed distorted only in the case where objects were separated by opaque barriers. A distance with an interposed opaque barrier was perceived by the adults as greater than the same distance with a transparent barrier or no barrier.

Effects of extrinsic rewards on children's subsequent intrinsic interest

Abstract: GREENE, DAVID, and LEPPER, MARK R. Effects of Extrinsic Rewards on Children's Subsequent Intrinsic Interest. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 1141-1145. Preschool children were asked, in individual sessions, to engage in an activity of high initial interest, either for its own sake or in order to obtain an extrinsic reward. Subsequently, children who had undertaken the target activity as a means to some ulterior end showed less intrinsic interest in this activity, as measured unobtrusively several weeks later in the children's classrooms, than control subjects who had either received the same reward unexpectedly or had engaged in the activity without expectation or receipt of extrinsic rewards.

The young child's development of sentence comprehension: influence of event probability, nonverbal context, syntactic form, and strategies.

Abstract: STROHNER, HANS, and NELSON, KEITH E. The Young Child's Development of Sentence Comprehension: Influence of Event Probability, Nonverbal Context, Syntactic Form, and Strategies. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 567-576. Sentence comprehension by children between 2 and 5 years of age was examined in the first of 2 studies. 3-year-olds consistently applied extrasyntactic strategies resulting in many errors of comprehension, but 5-year-olds typically relied on syntactic information and correctly interpreted sentences. The strategies children used were based either upon event probabilities (e.g., cats often chase mice) or upon the order "actor-action-object" that occurs in active sentences. In the second study, the probability of strategy use was modified through training procedures that paired sentences with certain picture-presentation techniques. Further evidence of the effects of nonverbal context on sentence comprehension was provided by task-related differences in the children's performance.

Gross motor development in infants blind from birth.

Abstract: ADELSON, EDNA, and FRAIBERG, SELMA. Gross Motor Development in Infants Blind from Birth. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 114-126. Longitudinal study of patterns of gross motor development in a group of 10 infants, blind from birth and otherwise intact, showed: (1) neuromuscular maturation and postural achievements appeared within the Bayley age ranges for sighted infants; (2) self-initiated mobility and locomotion were delayed. From our related prehension studies we understood this delay to be associated with the normally late adaptive substitution of sound for sight as incentive for mobility. An intervention program that focused on human relationships, adaptive hand behavior, and coordination of tactile and auditory schemas resulted in advances in mobility for this group in comparison with another similar blind group.

The potency of context in children's cognition: An illustration through conservation.

Abstract: ROSE, SUSAN A., and BLANK, MARION. The Potency of Context in Children's Cognition: An Illustration through Conservation. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 499-502. The present research is concerned with the importance of subtle contextual factors in affecting the young child's performance on cognitive problems. To illustrate this phenomenon, the conservation task was altered to include a 1-judgment version in which the child had to comment on the stimuli only after their rearrangement. This condition was devised because it was hypothesized that the request for 2 judgments-i before and 1 after the rearrangement--is taken by the child as a cue that he should alter his first judgment so as to acknowledge the change he has just witnessed. The results indicated that first-grade children made fewer errors not only on the 1-judgment task itself, but also on a subsequent standard conservation task given 1 week later. The results were interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that contextual cues which may be deemed insignificant by the adult may have a strong influence on the child's cognitive performance.

The effects of sociodramatic play on problem-solving behavior among culturally disadvantaged preschool children.

Abstract: ROSEN, CATHERINE ELKIN. The Effects of Sociodramatic Play on Problem-solving Behavior among Culturally Disadvantaged Preschool Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 920-927. After replicating with American kindergartners Smilansky's finding that disadvantaged youngsters are exceeded in amount and quality of sociodramatic play by advantaged youngsters, 2 classes of disadvantaged kindergartners were given 40 days of instruction and practice in sociodramatic play. Compared with 2 control classes, the experimentals showed significant improvement in posttest group problem-solving behavior, effectiveness in solving group problems requiring maximum cooperation and minimum competition, and role-taking skills. These results support the prediction that acquisition and performance of sociodramatic play improves the problem-solving behavior of culturally disadvantaged children.

A comparison of the effects of adoption, restoration to the natural mother, and continued institutionalization on the cognitive development of four-year-old children.

Abstract: TIZARD, BARBARA, and REEs, JUDITH. A Comparison of the Effects of Adoption, Restoration to the Natural Mother, and Continued Institutionalization on the Cognitive Development of FourYear-Old Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 92-99. 65 children aged 41 years who had spent their first 2-4 years in institutions were tested, and an assessment was made of their behavior in the test situation. 24 of the children had been adopted and 15 restored to their natural mothers at a mean age of 3 years; the remaining 26 were still in institutions. The mean WIPPSI IQs of all groups were at least average; the adopted children had significantly higher IQs, were initially more friendly, and were less restless and distractible than the other children. The findings are discussed in relation to the concept of institutional deprivation.

Birth Order, Family Configuration and Verbal Achievement.

Abstract: Two samples of National Merit Scholarship participants test in 1962 and the entire population of almost 800000 participants tested in 1965 were examined. Consistent effects in all 3 groups were observed with respect to both birth order and family size (1st born and those of smaller families scored higher). Control of both socioeconomic variables and maternal age by analysis of variance as well as by analysis of covariance failed to alter the relationships. Stepdown analyses suggested that the effects were due to a verbal component and that no differences were attributable to nonverbal factors. Mean test scores were computed for detailed sibship configurations based on birth order family size sibling spacing and sibling sex. (authors modified)

Conflict and transition in adolescent moral development.

Abstract: TURIEL, ELLIOT. Conflict and Transition in Adolescent Moral Development. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 14-29. The process of moving from stage to stage has not been systematically examined in developmental theories. As a consequence, responses reflecting progressive development have been inaccurately categorized as reflecting regressive behavior. The theoretical relations between regression and progression in developmental-stage theories are discussed. A detailed analysis of stage transition in adolescent moral judgments is presented. It is hypothesized that transition from one stage to the next involves a phase of conflict or disequilibrium, during which the existing mode of thinking is reevaluated and a new mode is constructed.

Utilization of retrieval cues by children in recall.

Abstract: KOBASIGAWA, AKIRA. Utilization of Retrieval Cues by Children in Recall. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 127-134. The hypothesis that as children become older they are increasingly likely to make efficient use of accessible retrieval cues was examined. Children of grades 1, 3, and 6 were given a task in which recall items (e.g., bear) were presented with conceptually related picture cues (e.g., zoo). The number of Ss who spontaneously used these picture cues to retrieve target items increased as a function of age. In addition, when older Ss used retrieval cues, they tended to recall more items than younger spontaneous cue users. A highly directive cuing procedure (directive cue) was needed for the cues to be facilitative at grades 1 and 3. In contrast, the mere availability of the cues during retrieval was as effective as the directivecue condition in enhancing grade 6 Ss' recall scores.

The use of symbolic modeling to promote social skills in preschool children with low levels of social responsiveness.

Abstract: KELLER, MARTHA FREESE, and CARLSON, PETER M. The Use of Symbolic Modeling to Promote Social Skills in Preschool Children with Low Levels of Social Responsiveness. CHRID DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 912-919. The efficacy of symbolic modeling in promoting the development of social skills in preschool children was investigated. 19 socially isolated children were exposed either to 4 5-minute videotapes in which social skills were modeled (treatment) or to 4 sequences of a nature film (control). The frequency with which subjects dispensed and received social reinforcement and the frequency of social interaction were rated by observers preand posttreatment and at follow-up. Results indicated that treatment produced increases in all 3 dependent measures for the treatment group. The data were interpreted as supporting a social facilitation explanation of treatment effectiveness. The importance of peer reinforcement in supporting social interaction was also demonstrated.

Metaphors and Modalities: How Children Project Polar Adjectives onto Diverse Domains.

Abstract: GARDNER, HOWARD. Metaphors and Modalities: How Children Project Polar Adjectives onto Diverse Domains. CILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 84-91. The capacity to appreciate and produce metaphoric language is thought to develop at adolescence. Yet metaphors are frequently noted in the speech of preschool children. To resolve this apparent contradiction, a test that probed metaphoric capacity was devised. Matched groups of subjects ranging in age from 31/ to 19 were required to indicate knowledge of the literal meanings of antonymous word pairs and then to project these terms onto domains where they applied only in a metaphoric way. Though there was improvement with age, preschool children demonstrated considerable ability at this task; the order of difficulty of words and domains were regular across age, except for an isolated difficulty displayed by the preschool children in projecting words onto swatches of color; reasons for matches differ markedly across ages. Whether metaphoric capacity is attributed to children appears to depend upon whether the ability to select acceptable metaphors or an explicit awareness of the rationale for the metaphor is the criterion. Both the distinction between an operative skill and an awareness of its existence and the preconditions for metaphoric competence are discussed.

Infant recognition memory: the effects of length of familiarization and type of discrimination task.

Abstract: FAGAN, JOSEPH F, III Infant Recognition Memory: The Effects of Length of Familiarization and Type of Discrimination Task CmLD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 351-356 Infant recognition memory, defined by novelty preferences, was found to vary over 4 discrimination tasks as a function of length of familiarization for 5--6-month-old infants Briefer amounts of familiarization were effective for eliciting recognition than had previously been demonstrated Order of task difficulty corresponded to age-related differences in ease of discrimination

Training impulsive children in the use of more efficient scanning techniques.

Abstract: EGELAND, BYRON. Training Impulsive Children in the Use of More Efficient Scanning Techniques. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 165-171. Impulsive second-grade, inner-city children were trained to improve their search strategies on match-to-sample visual discrimination exercises. A second group of impulsives, using the same materials, was taught to delay their responses. Both groups showed significant increases in response time and decreases in errors on the Matching Familiar Figures test given immediately after training. While the group trained to delay responses showed an increase in errors on a delayed posttest given 2 months after training, the group trained to improve search strategies continued to maintain a low level of error responses. A control group did not show any change in error or latency scores. Both training groups showed improved performance on the vocabulary subtest of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, and the group trained to improve search strategies also showed improvement on the comprehension subtest.

Anxious attachment and defensive reactions associated with day care.

Abstract: BLEHAR, MARY CURTIS. Anxious Attachment and Defensive Reactions Associated with Day Care. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 683-692. 20 2and 3-year-old children attending full. time group day care were compared with 20 home-reared children of the same ages in a standardized strange situation. Analysis focused on responses to separation from and reunion with the mother. Findings indicate qualitative disturbances in the mother-child relationship in day-care children, and this was attributed to the disruptive effects of frequent daily separations. The child's age at the time that day care began influenced the kind of disturbance shown. Those who started day care at age 2 showed avoidant behavior upon reunion with the mother, whereas those who started day care at age 3 showed anxious, ambivalent behavior.

Physical Appearance Cues and Interpersonal Attraction in Children.

Abstract: KLECK, ROBERT E.; RICHARDSON, STEPHEN A.; and RONALD, LINDA. Physical Appearance Cues and Interpersonal Attraction in Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 305-310. 2 studies are reported which demonstrate a positive relationship between the sociometric status of 9-14year-old boys after 2 weeks of intense social interaction and social acceptance judged from photographs by an independent group of age peers. Study 2 provides data suggesting that high sociometric status measured subsequent to interaction and also as judged on the basis of photographs alone is associated with physical attractiveness. The cues used in making these judgments are examined, and the need for behavioral comparisons between attractive and unattractive children is stressed.

Self-concept as related to achievement and age in learning-disabled children.

Abstract: BLACK, F. WILLIAM. Self-Concept as Related to Achievement and Age in Learning-disabled Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 1137-1140. Performance on a standardized test of self-concept was investigated in matched samples of normal and retarded readers, all of whom had been identified by the school system as underachievers. The self-concept of subjects with reading retardation documented by achievement testing was significantly lower than that of subjects with normal reading test performance. Self-concept test performance was found to be significantly and negatively related to age, school grade, and each measure of achievement. The implications of lowered self-concept for achievement and for remedial progress are discussed.

Field Independence and Central Computing Space

Abstract: CASE, ROBBIE, and GLOBERSON, TAMAR. Field Independence and Central Computing Space. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 772-778. According to Pascual-Leone, an important component of field independence and/or analytic intelligence is the tendency to use a large central computing space in approaching a cognitive task. The present study provided a preliminary test of this hypothesis. 7 tests were administered to 43 8-year-olds: 4 analytic field measures, 2 measures of central computing space, and 1 attention-concentration item with a high demand for central computing space. When submitted to factor analysis, the correlation matrix revealed essentially the pattern predicted on the basis of Pascual-Leone's model: 2 distinct yet substantially correlated factors emerged, with the first 4 measures showing significant loadings only on the first factor, and the last 3 measures showing significant loadings only on the second. The results were interpreted as providing preliminary support for PascualLeone's position, and as suggesting implications for research in cognitive development, education, and neuropsychology.

Recognition memory in Down's syndrome and normal infants.

Abstract: MIRANDA, SIM6N B., and FANTz, ROBERT L. Recognition Memory in Down's Syndrome and Normal Infants. CmLH DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 651-660, 3 tasks believed to represent different levels of difficulty were used to compare the novelty preferences of Down's Syndrome and normal infants at 3 age levels. In every problem the normal controls showed a preference for the novel stimuli several weeks earlier than the Down's Syndrome Ss, indicative of normal superiority in the development of recognition memory.

How Preschool Children Understand Missing Complement Subjects.

Abstract: MARATSOS, MICHAEL P. How Preschool Children Understand Missing Complement Subjects. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 700-706. Preschool children's comprehension of the missing subject of infinitival complement clauses was investigated in 2 studies. In the first, use of a surface-structure minimal-distance principle of the type outlined by C. Chomsky was distinguished from use of a semantic-role principle. Preschool children acted out sentences in which the use of the 2 principles would lead to different results. The results strongly favored their having adopted the semantic-role principle. In the second study, situational relations among lexically unspecified actors were also found inadequate to explain preschool children's performances. The hypothesis adopted was that as children use contextual information to interpret the reference of missing complement subjects, they relate this interpretation to semantic-role relations among the lexically specified deep-structure noun phrases of the main clause.

Piaget's Stage IV Object Concept Error: Evidence of Forgetting or Object Conception?.

Abstract: GRATCH, GERALD; APPEL, KENNETH J.; EVANS, WILSON F.; LECOMPTE, GUiNEY K.; and WRIGHT, NANCY A. Piaget's Stage IV Object Concept Error: Evidence of Forgetting or Object Conception? CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 71-77. Piaget explains the Stage IV error as a failure to assimilate the new place of hiding rather than a forgetting of it. His hypothesis predicts that the likelihood of error should not vary with the length of the delay interval. 9month-old infants were delayed 0, 1, 3, or 7 sec before having the opportunity to search. Infants in all conditions, save 0 sec, were likely to err. While Piaget's hypothesis was not supported by the results of the 0-sec condition, subsequent analyses of the data provided some support for Piaget's hypothesis.

Visual preferences of four-month-old premature and full-term infants.

Abstract: SIGMAN, MARIAN, and PARMELEE, ARTHun H. Visual Preferences of Four-Month-Old Premature and Full-Term Infants. CHaD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 959-965. The visual preferences of 20 full-term, 4-month-old infants were compared with those of 20 premature infants whose age at testing was 4 months corrected for the amount of prematurity. Both groups demonstrated a preference for complex stimuli, and no differences in the strength of preferences were found. The male prematures and full-term infants differed in total attention to face-like stimuli. Preference for novel stimuli following a habituation procedure was shown by the full-term infants but not by the premature infants. In summary, cognitive development, as indexed by visual preferences, varied between full-term and premature infants of the same conceptional age.

Reading between the Lines: Selective Attention in Good and Poor Readers.

Abstract: WIuLows, DALE M. Reading between the Lines: Selective Attention in Good and Poor Readers. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 408-415. This research compared the abilities of good and poor readers to attend selectively in a reading situation. 26 blocks of Ss (sixth-grade boys) matched on age and IQ participated in the test phase of the experiment. Each block consisted of 4 Ss, 2 good readers and 2 poor readers. 1 good and 1 poor reader from each block were randomly assigned to selective and control reading conditions, respectively. In the control condition, the reading passages were simply double-spaced and typed in black. In the selective reading condition, the same black passages were employed, but red words were typed between the lines. The most interesting finding of the research was that, relative to control performance, gocld readers in the selective reading condition made more comprehension errors that were intrusions from the red lines than did poor readers. These results were interpreted as lending support to an analysis-by-synthesis model of reading for meaning.